About Fiona

For over 40 years, Fiona Broome has been an author, researcher, and paranormal consultant.

Research experience distinguishes her pursuit of unexplained phenomena in everyday life.

An unabashed geek, Fiona analyzes and sometimes predicts paranormal activity. She looks for reasons why some places and objects (or the people around them) seem haunted, but others don’t.

Luckily (for her, anyway), she usually finds answers in history and geography. Sometimes, real history doesn’t match popular “ghost stories,” but that’s exactly why it’s important: It gives us new clues to why some sites report paranormal activity, and where to look for even more.

For Fiona, the stories and personal experiences are at least as important as the physical evidence and history. And, in many cases, they work together to give us a better understanding of what “paranormal” really means.

BRIEF BIO

Fiona Broome is an author and researcher, studying topics related to ghosts, faeries, and alternate history, also known as the Mandela Effect.

Fiona sold her first “ghost story” to Fate magazine in the early 1980s. Since then, she’s written or contributed to over a dozen best-selling books.

She’s also been a consultant for paranormal TV shows and the stars on them. Fiona is the founder of one of the Internet’s oldest ghost-related websites, HollowHill.com. Since 2000, her sites have also included Ghosts101.com and EncounterGhosts.com, and she’s written more than 1,000 ghost-related articles for magazines and websites.

Around 2015, one of Fiona’s hobby websites — about the Mandela Effect — sparked international interest.

By 2016, new explorers in that field were sharing their notes & theores at Reddit and other forums. Fiona was pleased to see others take the lead in Mandela Effect research.

Fiona has been a speaker and panelist at a wide range of international events including the New England Ghost Conference, GhoStock, Central Texas Paranormal Conference, and Canada’s annual G.H.O.S.T.S. conferences. From 2006 through 2010, she was an invited Guest and panelist at Dragon Con.

Today, Fiona is semi-retired and happy to focus on ghost research, where her anomalous adventures began, back in the 1980s.

MORE COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY

For years, Fiona Broome described herself as a “blip analyst.” She’s fascinated by unexplained events and everyday anomalies. Often, this takes her into paranormal realms.

Fiona’s research has led to many breakthroughs in paranormal research. They include…

Ley line patterns in ghost research. Using geographical lines (ley lines) and patterns, Fiona was the first to publicly identify sites with unreported (and under-reported) paranormal activity. She’s predicted anomalies from New Orleans’ French Quarter to Salem, Massachusetts, and from Atlanta, Georgia, to Maritime Canada.

Historical patterns in general paranormal research. For Fiona, this started with her discovery of the connection between Abner Cook, Shoal Creek, and Austin, Texas’ many haunted buildings. Since then, Fiona has been the lead researcher in the historical and geographical patterns that might explain why some sites are haunted and others aren’t.

Genealogy as a paranormal research tool. With over 40 years’ experience as a professional genealogist, Fiona has pioneered paragenealogy, to document (and sometimes discredit) popular “ghost stories” from the Lalaurie Mansion in New Orleans, to the enduring “curses” that followed the Salem Witch Trials.

The Mandela Effectis a phrase Fiona developed to describe the global anomaly of synchronous memories based in alternate histories. They’re more commonplace than you might think. Fiona’s related website attracted considerable attention, and — since 2015 (or so) — other researchers have been sharing notes & theories at related Reddit forums. (Fiona is not, and never has been, active at Reddit.)

“Sparkles,” a specific camera effect. In the late 1990s, Fiona coined the term “sparkles” to describe camera phenomena that can indicate the likelihood of photo anomalies. The term has since been adopted throughout the field, and used as a predictor in paranormal investigations.

Fiona’s research and her contributions to over 15 books are always based in documented facts, history and science.

Online, she’s respected as the founder of Hollow Hill, which — starting in 1999 — was one of the Internet’s oldest and largest websites about ghosts and haunted places.

Fiona’s expertise in the field led to her being the model for the “Fiona” character in Trickery Treat, the final novel in the first Charmed TV series books.

Conferences, Conventions, and Symposia

In 2003, Fiona was the opening speaker for the New England Ghost Conference.

During 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, Fiona was an invited Guest and speaker at Dragon Con, talking about paranormal, sci-fi, and speculative topics.

She was also one of the speakers, panelists and investigators atGhoStock 7 (2009).

In October 2008 and 2009, Fiona was a celebrity Guests of Honor at Salem, Massachusetts’ premiere social event, the Official Salem Witches’ Halloween Ball. (Fiona’s spirituality is eclectic and deeply personal, though she respects those who identify as witches.)

Fiona was a guest speaker and panelist in Ontario, Canada at the 1st and2nd Annual G.H.O.S.T.S. Conference.

Because so much of Fiona’s research applies to the popular subject of ghosts, many people associate her exclusively with that field. However, analyzing haunted locations, Fiona’s studies cover a far wider base.

Ley Lines and Other Paranormal Patterns

Ms. Broome has attracted attention for her groundbreaking studies of paranormal patterns. Using history and geography as a base, Fiona is able to predict anomalies such as hauntings and UFO reports.

In Austin, Texas, she discovered the connection between Abner Cook, haunted Shoal Creek, most of the major hauntings in downtown Austin, and the tragedy at the (haunted) University of Texas tower.

In Salem, Massachusetts, Fiona discovered the Judges Line, a path of tragic events, crypto zoology, and hauntings related to the Salem Witch Trials. It’s one of at least two patterns researchers can use to find ghosts in the Salem and Danvers areas.

In New Orleans, Fiona uncovered a little-known tragedy from the colonial era. Its community-wide impact connects almost every haunting in the French Quarter, and adds a startling perspective on why specific downtown New Orleans areas flooded during Hurricane Katrina.

In northern New Hampshire, another pattern reliably predicts the locations of paranormal reports. Those locations include the site of America’s first reported alien abduction, as well as the happily haunted Spalding Inn. (That hotel was formerly owned by Ghost Hunters’ Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson.)

Paragenealogy

Ms. Broome is the world’s top paragenealogist. Drawing on over 40 years’ experience, Fiona uses historical and genealogical resources to uncover reasons why certain locations — and people — trigger more paranormal activity than others.

Fiona goes beyond folklore to dig deep into eerie and paranormal events… and the chilling history-based facts that explain why they occur.

For example:

No child was poisoned at The Myrtles Plantation, but there’s far more to The Myrtles’ hauntings than the history of a vindictive servant. And, there may be a very troubling reason why people so clearly hear strange things at The Myrtles, at night.

No servant leaped to her death from the third floor of New Orleans’ “haunted mansion,” also known as the LaLaurie Mansion. However, two of Madame LaLaurie’s nearby residences may be even more haunted.

Though it may seem like fiction, The Hound of the Baskervilles was based on a real spectral hound that is still sighted in locations across England. Even more strange, it’s tied to a particular family with a wealth of bizarre paranormal reports.

As a consultant, Fiona has worked with many psychics and paranormal researchers, and at haunted locations to document the facts — and fiction — behind popular ghost stories, UFO reports, and anomalies that seem to echo popular sci-fi TV shows.

Alternate History

Over several years, Fiona engaged in fascinating discussions in the Dragon Con “green room.” There, people shared their clear memories of Nelson Mandela’s death while he was in prison, among other “events that never happened.” Fiona and Shadow (Dragon Con security manager) coined the term “Mandela Effect” to describe the phenomenon.

In 2009, after returning home, Fiona launched a related, hobby website, MandelaEffect.com. She was astonished when, in 2015, a surge of visitors affirmed that many people have memories that conflict with our present reality.

In recent years, others with more resources have continued to explore this topic, and share their discoveries at sites like Reddit. Fiona does not participate in those discussions.

Ghost Photography

Fiona has taught Ghost Photography since the 1990s. Her book, Ghost Photography 101, documented the potential for false anomalies in settings with high humidity, dust, smoke and other problems. This book also explored new and unusual opportunities for researchers to photograph orbs and other evidence of ghosts.

Writing

Fiona is the author of over a dozen books, hundreds of articles online and in magazines, and has contributed to many anthologies of ghost stories. Her publishers include Publications International, Schiffer Books, Sterling, Usborne, and West Side Publishing, as well as several indie imprints.

Podcasts

More comfortable away from cameras, Fiona was a podcaster from 2006 – 2012.

Personal information

Fiona Broome is very protective of her privacy.

She grew up in the Boston (MA, USA) area, and spent much of her childhood at M.I.T.

In her 20s, she moved to California for a career in modeling, but was soon distracted by other things. Her fondest Los Angeles memories include working with Bjo Trimble on the early Star Trek conventions, setting up meeting room chairs with Bill Campbell, and taping down electrical wiring with Jimmy Doohan.

Fiona’s first book was published in 1977, under a pen name. Additional books followed with traditional and indie publishers.

In 1982, she was one of the coordinators of the first annual Mensa Colloquium in Boston, MA.

Fiona is a happily married mother of three children. She’s equally at home in the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland. In her spare time, she paints landscapes, bakes cookies, travels (a lot), and enjoys Shakespeare plays.

Fiona expected to be a stay-at-home mom. Instead, her path has led in other directions, and given her many tales to tell audiences, as well as her grandchildren.